PRIMUS Provides VoIP for Messenger Customers

August 12, 2002 -- Communications firm PRIMUS Telecommunications Group Inc. (PrimusTel.com) announced on Monday that it has formed an agreement with Microsoft Corporation to provide voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services for MSN Messenger Service customers.

The agreement, says PRIMUS, will allow Messenger customers to use their personal computers to make voice calls to telephones almost anywhere in the world.

MSN Messenger Service users can now use PRIMUS as their carrier for PC-to-phone service for communicating with friends, family or co-workers. The company says it will allow users to get more out of their Internet connection by enabling them to make calls from their pc while using the Internet.

The product, marketed as PrimusTalk, allows users to make phone calls within the MSN Messenger Service simply by clicking “make a phone call,” and can reach any number, national, international or mobile.

"PRIMUS is leading the way to a carrier class era of converged communications solutions," said John Melick, co-President of PRIMUS Telecommunications, Inc. "As a third-party solutions provider with market leading positions in global voice and Internet services, the advantage of PRIMUS offering a voice service over the Internet's architecture is the added convenience and value available to customers by engaging in communications at their desktop or wherever they are using a MSN Messenger Service-enabled device."